I have been a fan of the practicle Nissan Maxima 4-Drs., & plenty of get up & go... + 29 mi per gal on highway! I had three of them, a 1994, 2000, 2002......great & reliable first ride!.....& you can get a 1995 up in your price range........

 

Get a 98-04 Jetta with the sport package. It is a remarkably safe car, gets great mileage, has a useable back seat, looks good & cheap to insure.

KC-10 FE out...

 

[has a useable back seat,



For what....lol

 

I don't know why everyone is touting honduh for a first car. You can get a lot newer focus for the same money. I am on my second focus (2005 ST, first was a 2003 centenial edition) and they are a great car. Economical, cheap to work on, and priced right because of the idiotic attitude towards imports. Get one 2002 or newer and you won't have any problems what so ever. I replaced the rear disk rotors on my 2005 for $15 a piece.. do that on a honduh... NOT! the fronts have 65,000 miles and are almost ready to change.

P.S.... get one with ABS and traction control and she can go anywhere in snow.. great options.

 

Buy a $100 car and a tool kit for the trunk.

 

a sweet first car!!!



35 horespower, 2 cylinder, 5 gallon tank, averages 65 miles to the gallon. tin can on wheels though, dont let her hit anything...

 

get an 02-03 escort zx2. I had a 98 with about 90,000 miles, full bolt on, and 5 spd. Took down auto gt mustangs with that little thing and never had to a thing to it. Got 40 mpg on the highway. I wanted to hit it with a 50 shot but sold it instead for my truck. Fun car, cheap to buy, cheap to run, reliable as hell and went pretty good for a 2.0L DOHC and its definietly a chicks car. She wouldn't be disappointed with it.

 

Oh boy.

 

um, I probably could have on my 03 if I had rear discs, but I would probably not buy $15 rotors for any car.

BTW, if you've never worked on a Honda they are the Chevy of the Japanese world when it comes to buying parts...

any front drive 4 banger would make a good first car for a girl with no experience. I hate to admit it, but I would take a Civic over a Focus any day. I've driven a few of each, and wasn't impressed with any of the Foci. Maybe the newer ones are better, but the older ones didn't impress me... but that's just my opinion, that's all...

 

Anything sporty like a Mustang or Camaro - even with a V6 - will kill you on insurance. My advice for a FIRST car is get something that if it's crashed and beat up, it's no great loss.

When my stepdaughter got her license, I gave her my 13 year old rusty Toyota Celica with 160k miles. She trashed it twice - it survived the first crash but the second one killed it. No great loss. It's just good that she didn't get hurt.

I'm not saying to get her some dull sedan - just don't get something too distinctive, if you know what I mean.

 

98-03 Pontiac Grand Prix. V6, FWD, 3.8L. Very dependable, will take a lot of abuse, easy to maintain and also fairly easy to mod!

Will not kill you on ins. either.

 

I was going to recommend an early 2000 Pontiac Grand Am. These are great cars, front wheel drive, sporty, reliable, replacement parts are cheap and there's a bunch of them out there for sale.

 

But will kill you replacing the heater gasket that allows the floors to fill up with water...

 

Besides the fact that the steering falls apart, and forget about replacing an alternator on them. I can say that they do take tons of abuse though. My buddy ran one through hell and back.

 

Not all are affected, and it's an easy fix. Other than that, these cars rock. I'm @ ~125k miles with an NA GP, and it still runs like new. I've been to the track numerous times and I DON'T baby this thing.